Just the way the corporate org chart is drawn up. Some companies have every C level executive reporting to the CEO. Some CEO's are big picture people and focu

Just the way the corporate org chart is drawn up. Some companies have every C level executive reporting to the CEO. Some CEO's are big picture people and focus on external issues. This means that the company would usually have most functions reporting to the COO. Sometimes it just makes sense to have a group report to an executive. Consider Groupon, its largest expense is marketing so it might make sense to have the Chief Marketing officer report to the CFO. It can also make sense for financial companies to have the Counsel report to the CFO as they would be doing primarily financial related duties, like compliance. General Counsel is a special case as its a bit of an oddball case for companies where its not a core function and will often report to the COO. IT can often be like the general counsel where it's not viewed as a core function or PnL center and thus report to another C level executive like the CFO or COO.